Asynchronous receipt of information from a user

ABSTRACT

Methods, systems, and computer program products are provided for asynchronous receipt of information from a user. Embodiments include receiving in a library management system a media file containing a speech response recorded on a hand held device in response to the playing of a media file containing one or more audio prompts for information; converting the speech response stored in the media file to text; and storing the text in association with an identification of the user.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The field of the invention is data processing, or, more specifically, methods, systems, and products for asynchronous receipt of information from a user.

2. Description of Related Art

Managers are increasingly isolated from one another and their employees. One reason for this isolation is that managers are often time constrained and their communication occurs with many different devices and often communications requires two or more managers or employees to be available at the same time. Furthermore, often employers elicit information from their employees. Such information is desired but the timing of the receipt of the information is flexible. There therefore is a need for improvement in communications among users such as managers and employees that reduces the devices used to communicate and reduces the requirement for more than one user to communicate at the same time. There is also an ongoing need for improvement in the receipt of information from employees and other users.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Methods, systems, and computer program products are provided for asynchronous receipt of information from a user. Embodiments include receiving in a library management system a media file containing a speech response recorded on a hand held device in response to the playing of a media file containing one or more audio prompts for information; converting the speech response stored in the media file to text; and storing the text in association with an identification of the user.

The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following more particular descriptions of exemplary embodiments of the invention as illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein like reference numbers generally represent like parts of exemplary embodiments of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 sets forth a network diagram of a system for asynchronous communications using messages recorded on handheld devices according to embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 2 sets forth a block diagram of automated computing machinery comprising an exemplary library management system useful in asynchronous communications according to embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 3 sets forth a flow chart illustrating an exemplary method for asynchronous communications according to embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 4 sets forth a flow chart illustrating an exemplary method for associating the message with content under management by a library management system in dependence upon the text converted from a recorded message.

FIG. 5 sets forth a flow chart illustrating another method for associating the message with content under management by a library management system in dependence upon the text converted from a recorded message.

FIG. 6 sets forth a flow chart illustrating another method for associating the message with content under management by a library management system in dependence upon the text converted from a recorded message.

FIG. 7 sets forth a flow chart illustrating an exemplary method for asynchronous receipt of information from a user.

FIG. 8 sets forth a flow chart illustrating an exemplary method for receiving in a library management system a media file containing a speech response recorded on a hand held device in response to the playing of a media file containing one or more audio prompts for information.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

Exemplary methods, systems, and products for asynchronous communications and asynchronous receipt of information in accordance with the present invention are described with reference to the accompanying drawings, beginning with FIG. 1. FIG. 1 sets forth a network diagram of a system for asynchronous communications using messages recorded on handheld recording devices according to embodiments of the present invention. Asynchronous communications means communications among parties that occurs with some time delay. Asynchronous communications according to the present invention advantageously allows participants of communications to send, receive, and respond to communications at their own convenience with no requirement to be available simultaneously.

The exemplary system of FIG. 1 is also capable of asynchronous receipt of information from a user according to the present invention. Asynchronous receipt of information from a user according to embodiments of the present invention advantageously allows a user to provide information as responses to audio prompts at the user's convenience thereby providing increased flexibility in the receipt of information.

The system of FIG. 1 includes two personal computers (106 and 112) coupled for data communications to a wide area network (‘WAN’) (102). Each of the personal computers (106 and 112) of FIG. 1 has installed upon it a local library application (232). A local library application (232) includes computer program instructions capable of transferring media files containing recorded messages to a handheld recording device (108 and 114). The local library application (232) also includes computer program instructions capable of receiving media files containing messages from the handheld recording device (108 and 114) and transmitting the media files to a library management system (104).

The example of FIG. 1 also includes a library management system (104). The library management system of FIG. 1 is capable of asynchronous communications by receiving a recorded message having been recorded on a handheld device (108) converting the recorded message to text; identifying a recipient (116) of the message in dependence upon the text; associating the message with content under management by a library management system in dependence upon the text; and storing the message for transmission to another handheld device (114) for the recipient. The exemplary library management system (104) of FIG. 1 manages asynchronous communications using recorded messages according to the present invention, as well as additional content associated with those recorded messages. Such associated content under management include, for example, other recorded messages created by senders and recipients, emails, media files containing media content, spreadsheets, presentations, RSS (‘Really Simple Syndication’) feeds, web pages, and well as any other content that will occur to those of skill in the art. Maintaining the content as well as managing asynchronous communications relating to that content advantageously provides tight coupling between the communications between users and the content related to those communications. Such tight coupling provides the ability to determine that content under management is the subject of the communications and therefore provide an identification of such content to a recipient. Such tight coupling also provides the ability to attach that content to the message providing together the content which is the subject of the communications and the communications themselves.

The library management system of FIG. 1 is also capable of asynchronous receipt of information from a user according to the present invention by receiving in the library management system (104) a media file containing a speech response recorded on a hand held device (114 and 108) in response to the playing of a media file containing one or more audio prompts for information; converting the speech response stored in the media file to text; and storing the text in association with an identification of the user. In the example of FIG. 1, either the sender (110) or recipient (116) may be users for asynchronous receipt of information according to the present invention.

The exemplary system of FIG. 1 is capable of asynchronous communications according to the present invention by recording a message from a sender (110) on handheld device (108). The handheld recording device includes a microphone for receiving speech of the message and is capable of recording the message in a media file. One handheld recording device useful according to embodiments of the present invention is the WP-U2J available from Samsung.

The exemplary system of FIG. 1 is capable of transferring the media file containing the recorded message from the handheld recording device (108) to a local library application (232). Media files containing one or messages may be transferred to the local library application by periodically synchronizing the handheld recording device with the local library application allowing a sender to begin transmission of the message at the convenience of the sender.

The exemplary system of FIG. 1 is also capable of transferring the media file containing the recorded message to a library management system (104). The library management system comprises computer program instructions capable of receiving a recorded message; converting the recorded message to text; identifying a recipient of the message in dependence upon the text; associating the message with content under management by a library management system in dependence upon the text; and storing the message for transmission to another handheld device for the recipient

The exemplary system of FIG. 1 is also capable of transferring the media file containing the recorded message to a local library application (232) installed on a personal computer (112). The system of FIG. 1 is also capable of transmitting message to the handheld recording device (114) of the recipient (116) who may listen to the message using headphones (112) or speakers on the device. A recipient may transfer messages to the handheld device by synchronizing the handheld recording device with the local library application (232) allowing the recipient to obtain messages at the recipients convenience. The recipient may now respond to the sender in the same manner providing two way asynchronous communications between sender and recipient.

The arrangement of devices making up the exemplary system illustrated in FIG. 1 is for explanation, not for limitation. Data processing systems useful according to various embodiments of the present invention may include additional servers, routers, other devices, and peer-to-peer architectures, not shown in FIG. 1, as will occur to those of skill in the art. Networks in such data processing systems may support many data communications protocols, including for example TCP (Transmission Control Protocol), IP (Internet Protocol), HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol), WAP (Wireless Access Protocol), HDTP (Handheld Device Transport Protocol), and others as will occur to those of skill in the art. Various embodiments of the present invention may be implemented on a variety of hardware platforms in addition to those illustrated in FIG. 1.

Asynchronous communications and asynchronous receipt of information from a user in accordance with the present invention is generally implemented with computers, that is, with automated computing machinery. In the system of FIG. 1, for example, all the nodes, servers, and communications devices are implemented to some extent at least as computers. For further explanation, therefore, FIG. 2 sets forth a block diagram of automated computing machinery comprising an exemplary library management system (104) useful in asynchronous communications according to embodiments of the present invention. The library management system (104) of FIG. 2 includes at least one computer processor (156) or ‘CPU’ as well as random access memory (168) (‘RAM’) which is connected through a system bus (160) to processor (156) and to other components of the library management system.

Stored in RAM (168) is a library management application (202) for asynchronous communications according to the present invention including computer program instructions for receiving a recorded message, the message recorded on a handheld device; converting the recorded message to text; identifying a recipient of the message in dependence upon the text; associating the message with content under management by a library management system in dependence upon the text; and storing the message for transmission to another handheld device for the recipient.

The library management application (202) also includes an information receipt engine (222) capable of asynchronous receipt of information from a user according to the present invention. The library management application (202) includes computer program instructions for receiving in the a library management system a media file containing a speech response recorded on a hand held device in response to the playing of a media file containing one or more audio prompts for information; converting by use of the speech recognition engine the speech response stored in the media file to text; and storing the text in association with an identification of the user.

The library management application (202) of FIG. 2 also includes a speech recognition engine (203), computer program instructions for converting a recorded message to text. Examples of speech recognition engines capable of modification for use with library management applications according to the present invention include SpeechWorks available from Nuance Communications, Dragon NaturallySpeaking also available from Nuance Communications, ViaVoice available from IBM®, Speech Magic available from Philips Speech Recognition Systems, iListen from MacSpeech, Inc., and others as will occur to those of skill in the art.

The library management application (202) of FIG. 2 includes a speech synthesis engine (204), computer program instructions for creating speech identifying the content associated with the message. Examples of speech engines capable of creating speech identifying the content associated with the message, for example, IBM's ViaVoice Text-to-Speech, Acapela Multimedia TTS, AT&T Natural Voices™ Text-to-Speech Engine, and Python's pyTTS class.

The library management application (202) of FIG. 2 includes a content management module (206), computer program instructions for receiving a recorded message; identifying a recipient of the message in dependence upon text converted from the message; associating the message with content under management by a library management system in dependence upon the text; and storing the message for transmission to another handheld device for the recipient.

Also stored in RAM (168) is an application server (155), a software platform that provides services and infrastructure required to develop and deploy business logic necessary to provide web clients with access to enterprise information systems. Also stored in RAM (168) is an operating system (154). Operating systems useful in computers according to embodiments of the present invention include UNIX™, Linux™, Microsoft XP™, AIX™, IBM's i5/OS™, and others as will occur to those of skill in the art. Operating system (154) and library management module (202) in the example of FIG. 2 are shown in RAM (168), but many components of such software typically are stored in non-volatile memory (166) also.

Library management system (104) of FIG. 2 includes non-volatile computer memory (166) coupled through a system bus (160) to processor (156) and to other components of the library management system (104). Non-volatile computer memory (166) may be implemented as a hard disk drive (170), optical disk drive (172), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory space (so-called ‘EEPROM’ or ‘Flash’ memory) (174), RAM drives (not shown), or as any other kind of computer memory as will occur to those of skill in the art.

The exemplary library management system of FIG. 2 includes one or more input/output interface adapters (178). Input/output interface adapters in library management systems implement user-oriented input/output through, for example, software drivers and computer hardware for controlling output to display devices (180) such as computer display screens, as well as user input from user input devices (181) such as keyboards and mice.

The exemplary library management system (104) of FIG. 2 includes a communications adapter (167) for implementing data communications (184) with other computers (182). Such data communications may be carried out serially through RS-232 connections, through external buses such as USB, through data communications networks such as IP networks, and in other ways as will occur to those of skill in the art. Communications adapters implement the hardware level of data communications through which one computer sends data communications to another computer, directly or through a network. Examples of communications adapters useful for asynchronous communications according to embodiments of the present invention include modems for wired dial-up communications, Ethernet (IEEE 802.3) adapters for wired network communications, and 802.11b adapters for wireless network communications.

Asynchronous Communications

For further explanation, FIG. 3 sets forth a flow chart illustrating an exemplary method for asynchronous communications according to embodiments of the present invention that includes recording (302) a message (304) on handheld device (108). Recording (302) a message (304) on handheld device (108) typically includes recording a speech message on a handheld recording device (108) in a media file (306) using a data format supported by the handheld recording device (108). Examples of media files useful in asynchronous communications according to the present invention include MPEG 3 (‘.mp3’) files, MPEG 4 (‘.mp4’) files, Advanced Audio Coding (‘AAC’) compressed files, Advances Streaming Format (‘ASF’) Files, WAV files, and many others as will occur to those of skill in the art.

The method of FIG. 3 includes transferring (308) a media file (306) containing the recorded message (304) to a library management system (104). As discussed above, one way of transferring (308) a media file (306) containing the recorded message (304) to a library management system (104) includes synchronizing the handheld recording device (108) with a local library application (232) which in turns uploads the media file to the local management system. Synchronizing the handheld recording device (108) with a local library application (232) advantageously allows a sender to record messages at the sender's convenience and also the sender to initiate the sending of those messages at the sender's convenience.

The method of FIG. 3 also includes receiving (310) the recorded message (304). In the example of FIG. 3, a library management system (104) receives the recorded message in a media file from a local library application (232). Local library applications (232) according to the present invention may be configured to upload messages from a sender to a library management system (104) and download messages for a recipient from a library management system (104) periodically, such as daily, hourly and so on, upon synchronization with handheld recording devices, or in any other manner as will occur to those of skill in the art.

The method of FIG. 3 also includes converting (312) the recorded message (304) to text (314). Converting (312) the recorded message (304) to text (314) may be carried out by a speech recognition engine. Speech recognition is the process of converting a speech signal to a set of words, by means of an algorithm implemented as a computer program. Different types of speech recognition engines currently exist. Isolated-word speech recognition systems, for example, require the speaker to pause briefly between words, whereas continuous speech recognition systems do not. Furthermore, some speech recognition systems require a user to provide samples of his or her own speech before using them, whereas other systems are said to be speaker-independent and do not require a user to provide samples.

To accommodate larger vocabularies, speech recognition engines use language models or artificial grammars to restrict the combination of words and increase accuracy. The simplest language model can be specified as a finite-state network, where the permissible words following each word are explicitly given. More general language models approximating natural language are specified in terms of a context-sensitive grammar.

Examples of commercial speech recognition engines currently available include SpeechWorks available from Nuance Communications, Dragon NaturallySpeaking also available from Nuance Communications, ViaVoice available from IBM®, Speech Magic available from Philips Speech Recognition Systems, iListen from MacSpeech, Inc., and others as will occur to those of skill in the art.

The method of FIG. 3 also includes identifying (319) a recipient (116) of the message (304) in dependence upon the text (314). Identifying (319) a recipient (116) of the message (304) in dependence upon the text (314) may be carried out by scanning the text for previously identified names or user identifications. Upon finding a match, identifying (319) a recipient (116) of the message (304) may be carried out by retrieving a user profile for the identified recipient including information facilitating sending the message to the recipient.

The method of FIG. 3 also includes associating (316) the message (304) with content (318) under management by a library management system in dependence upon the text (314). Associating (316) the message (304) with content (318) under management by a library management system in dependence upon the text (314) may be carried out by creating speech identifying the content associated with the message; and associating the speech with the recorded message for transmission with the recorded message as discussed below with reference to FIG. 4. Associating (316) the message (304) with content (318) under management by a library management system in dependence upon the text (314) may also be carried out by extracting keywords from the text; and searching content under management for the keywords as discussed below with reference to FIG. 5. Associating (316) the message (304) with content (318) under management by a library management system in dependence upon the text (314) may also be carried out by extracting an explicit identification of the associated content from the text; and searching content under management for the identified content as discussed below with reference with FIG. 6.

The method of FIG. 3 also includes storing (320) the message (304) for transmission to another handheld device (114) for the recipient (116). In the example of FIG. 3, a library management system (104) stores the message for downloading to local library application (232) for the recipient.

The method of FIG. 3 also includes transmitting (324) the message (304) to another handheld device (114). Transmitting (324) the message (304) to another handheld device (114) according to the method of FIG. 3 may be carried out by downloading the message to a local library application (232) for the recipient (116) and synchronizing the handheld recording device (114) with the local library application (232). Local library applications (232) according to the present invention may be configured to download messages for a recipient from a library management system (104) periodically, such as daily, hourly and so on, upon synchronization with handheld recording devices, or in any other manner as will occur to those of skill in the art.

To aid users in communication, content identified as associated with communications among users may be identified, described in speech, and presented to those users thereby seamlessly supplementing the existing communications among the users. For further explanation, FIG. 4 sets forth a flow chart illustrating an exemplary method for associating (316) the message (304) with content (318) under management by a library management system in dependence upon the text (314). The method of FIG. 4 includes creating (408) speech (412) identifying the content (318) associated with the message (304). Creating (408) speech (412) identifying the content (318) associated with the message (304) may be carried out by processing the text using a text-to-speech engine in order to produce a speech presentation of the text and then recording the speech produced by the text-speech-engine in the audio portion of a media file. Examples of speech engines capable of converting text to speech for recording in the audio portion of a media file include, for example, IBM's ViaVoice Text-to-Speech, Acapela Multimedia TTS, AT&T Natural Voices™ Text-to-Speech Engine, and Python's pyTTS class. Each of these text-to-speech engines is composed of a front end that takes input in the form of text and outputs a symbolic linguistic representation to a back end that outputs the received symbolic linguistic representation as a speech waveform.

Typically, speech synthesis engines operate by using one or more of the following categories of speech synthesis: articulatory synthesis, formant synthesis, and concatenative synthesis. Articulatory synthesis uses computational biomechanical models of speech production, such as models for the glottis and the moving vocal tract. Typically, an articulatory synthesizer is controlled by simulated representations of muscle actions of the human articulators, such as the tongue, the lips, and the glottis. Computational biomechanical models of speech production solve time-dependent, 3-dimensional differential equations to compute the synthetic speech output. Typically, articulatory synthesis has very high computational requirements, and has lower results in terms of natural-sounding fluent speech than the other two methods discussed below.

Formant synthesis uses a set of rules for controlling a highly simplified source-filter model that assumes that the glottal source is completely independent from a filter which represents the vocal tract. The filter that represents the vocal tract is determined by control parameters such as formant frequencies and bandwidths. Each formant is associated with a particular resonance, or peak in the filter characteristic, of the vocal tract. The glottal source generates either stylized glottal pulses for periodic sounds and generates noise for aspiration. Formant synthesis often generates highly intelligible, but not completely natural sounding speech. However, formant synthesis typically has a low memory footprint and only moderate computational requirements.

Concatenative synthesis uses actual snippets of recorded speech that are cut from recordings and stored in an inventory or voice database, either as waveforms or as encoded speech. These snippets make up the elementary speech segments such as, for example, phones and diphones. Phones are composed of a vowel or a consonant, whereas diphones are composed of phone-to-phone transitions that encompass the second half of one phone plus the first half of the next phone. Some concatenative synthesizers use so-called demi-syllables, in effect applying the diphone method to the time scale of syllables. Concatenative synthesis then strings together, or concatenates, elementary speech segments selected from the voice database, and, after optional decoding, outputs the resulting speech signal. Because concatenative systems use snippets of recorded speech, they often have the highest potential for sounding like natural speech, but concatenative systems typically require large amounts of database storage for the voice database.

The method of FIG. 4 also includes associating (410) the speech (412) with the recorded message (304) for transmission with the recorded message (304). Associating (410) the speech (412) with the recorded message (304) for transmission with the recorded message (304) may be carried out by including the speech in the same media file as the recoded message, creating a new media file containing both the recorded message and the created speech, or any other method of associating the speech with the recorded message as will occur to those of skill in the art.

As discussed above, associated messages with content under management often requires identifying the content. For further explanation, FIG. 5 sets forth a flow chart illustrating another method for associating (316) the message (304) with content (318) under management by a library management system in dependence upon the text (314). The method of FIG. 5 includes extracting (402) keywords (403) from the text (314). Extracting (402) keywords (403) from the text (314) may be carried out by extracting words from the text that elicit information about content associated with the subject matter of the message such as, for example, ‘politics,’ ‘work,’ ‘movies,’ and so. Extracting (402) keywords (403) from the text (314) also may be carried out by extracting words from the text identifying types of content such as, for example, ‘email,’ ‘file,’ ‘presentation,’ and so on. Extracting (402) keywords (403) from the text (314) also may be carried out by extracting words from the text having temporal semantics, such as ‘yesterday,’ ‘Monday,’ ‘10:00 am.’ and so on. The examples of extracting words indicative of subject matter, content type, or temporal semantics are presented for explanation and not for limitation. In fact, associating (316) the message (304) with content (318) under management by a library management system in dependence upon the text (314) may be carried out in many was as will occur to those of skill in the art and all such ways are within the scope of the present invention.

The method of FIG. 5 also includes searching (404) content (318) under management for the keywords (403). Searching (404) content (318) under management for the keywords (403) may be carried out by searching the titles, metadata, and content itself for the keywords and identifying as a match content having the most matching keywords or content having the best matching keywords according to predefined algorithms for selecting matching content from potential matches.

In some cases, the messages comprising communications among users may contain an explicit identification of content under management. For further explanation, FIG. 6 sets forth a flow chart illustrating another method for associating (316) the message (304) with content (318) under management by a library management system in dependence upon the text (314) includes extracting (502) an explicit identification (506) of the associated content from the text and searching content (318) under management for the identified content (506). Extracting (502) an explicit identification (506) of the associated content from the text may be carried out by identifying one or more words in the text matching a title or closely matching a title or metadata identification of specific content under management. For example, the phrase ‘the Jones Presentation,’ may be extracted as an explicit identification of a PowerPoint™ Presentation entitled ‘Jones Presentation 5-2-2006.’ For example, the phrase ‘Your message of Yesterday,’ may be extracted as an explicit identification of a message from the intended recipient of the message send a day earlier than the current message from which the text was converted according to the present invention.

Asynchronous Receipt of Information from a User

For further explanation, FIG. 7 sets forth a flow chart illustrating an exemplary method for asynchronous receipt of information from a user. The method of FIG. 7 includes receiving (702) in a library management system (104) a media file (704) containing a speech response (706) recorded on a hand held device in response to the playing of a media file containing one or more audio prompts for information. Examples of media files useful in asynchronous receipt of information from a user according to the present invention include MPEG 3 (‘.mp3’) files, MPEG 4 (‘.mp4’) files, Advanced Audio Coding (‘AAC’) compressed files, Advances Streaming Format (‘ASF’) Files, WAV files, and many others as will occur to those of skill in the art.

The method of FIG. 7 also includes converting (708) the speech response (706) stored in the media file (708) to text (710). Converting (708) the speech response (706) stored in the media file (708) to text (710) may be carried out by a speech recognition engine as discussed above with reference to FIG. 3.

The method of FIG. 7 also includes storing (712) the text (710) in association with an identification of the user. Storing (712) the text (710) in association with an identification of the user may be carried out by storing the text in association with a user account containing information received from a user in accordance with the present invention.

Asynchronous receipt of information from a user according to the method of FIG. 7 advantageously provides a vehicle for receipt of information from a user that provides increased flexibility to the user in providing the information. Media files useful in prompting the user for the information may contain prompts for information that together create an effective audio form that may be standardized to elicit information desired for many uses such as employment, management, purchasing and so on as will occur to those of skill in the art.

As mentioned above, asynchronous receipt of information from a user includes receiving an media file containing a speech response. For further explanation, therefore, FIG. 8 sets forth a flow chart illustrating an exemplary method for receiving (702) in a library management system (104) a media file (704) containing a speech response (706) recorded on a hand held device in response to the playing of a media file containing one or more audio prompts for information. The method of FIG. 8 includes transmitting (750) to the handheld device (108) a media file (752) containing one or more audio prompts (758) for information. Transmitting (750) to the handheld device (108) a media file (758) containing one or more audio prompts (758) for information may be carried out by synchronizing the handheld device (108) with a local library application (232) coupled for data communications with the library management system (104). Synchronizing the handheld device (108) with a local library application (232) coupled for data communications with the library management system (104) allows a user to install the media file containing the one or more audio prompts at the user's convenience.

The method of FIG. 8 also includes playing (760) on the handheld device (108) the media file (752) containing the one or more audio prompts (758) for information. As discussed above, a media file may contain a plurality of audio prompts that in effect create and audio form. Playing (760) on the handheld device (108) the media file (752) containing the one or more audio prompts (758) for information thereby informs the user of the information solicited by the audio form.

The method of FIG. 8 also includes recording (762) in another media file (764) on the handheld device (108) a speech response (766) from the user (700). Recording (762) in another media file (764) on the handheld device (108) a speech response from the user (700) may be carried out by pausing the playback of the media file (752) containing the one or more audio prompts (758) on the handheld device (108) the media file containing the one or more audio prompts (758) for information in response to a user's instruction to initiate recording in another media file (764) on the handheld device (108) the speech response. In the example of FIG. 8, the user's instruction to initiate recording in another media file on the handheld device the speech response is implemented as a user's invocation of a push-to-talk button (770).

Upon receipt of the speech response, the method of FIG. 8 may include continuing playback of the media file and the next audio prompt. The user may therefore continue to play audio prompts and record speech responses until the user has provided the information designed to be elicited by the audio prompts contained in the media file.

The method of FIG. 8 also includes transmitting (768) the media file (764) containing the speech (766) response to a library management system (104). Transmitting (768) the media file (764) containing the speech response (766) to a library management system (104) may be carried out by synchronizing the handheld device (108) with a local library application (232) coupled for data communications with the library management system (104). Synchronizing the handheld device (108) with a local library application (232) coupled for data communications with the library management system (104) allows a user to initiate upload of the media file containing the one or more audio prompts to the library management system at the user's convenience.

Exemplary embodiments of the present invention are described largely in the context of a fully functional computer system for asynchronous communications using messages recorded on handheld devices and asynchronous receipt of information from a user. Readers of skill in the art will recognize, however, that the present invention also may be embodied in a computer program product disposed on computer readable media for use with any suitable data processing system. Such computer readable media may be transmission media or recordable media for machine-readable information, including magnetic media, optical media, or other suitable media. Examples of recordable media include magnetic disks in hard drives or diskettes, compact disks for optical drives, magnetic tape, and others as will occur to those of skill in the art. Examples of transmission media include telephone networks for voice communications and digital data communications networks such as, for example, Ethernets™ and networks that communicate with the Internet Protocol and the World Wide Web as well as wireless transmission media such as, for example, networks implemented according to the IEEE 802.11 family of specifications. Persons skilled in the art will immediately recognize that any computer system having suitable programming means will be capable of executing the steps of the method of the invention as embodied in a program product. Persons skilled in the art will recognize immediately that, although some of the exemplary embodiments described in this specification are oriented to software installed and executing on computer hardware, nevertheless, alternative embodiments implemented as firmware or as hardware are well within the scope of the present invention.

It will be understood from the foregoing description that modifications and changes may be made in various embodiments of the present invention without departing from its true spirit. The descriptions in this specification are for purposes of illustration only and are not to be construed in a limiting sense. The scope of the present invention is limited only by the language of the following claims. 

1. A method for asynchronous receipt of information from a user, the method comprising: receiving in a library management system a media file containing a speech response recorded on a hand held device in response to the playing of a media file containing one or more audio prompts for information; converting the speech response stored in the media file to text; and storing the text in association with an identification of the user.
 2. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving in a library management system a media file containing a speech response recorded on a hand held device in response to the playing of a media file containing one or more audio prompts for information further comprises: transmitting to the handheld device a media file containing one or more audio prompts for information; playing on the handheld device the media file containing the one or more audio prompts for information; recording in another media file on the handheld device a speech response from the user; transmitting the media file containing the speech response to a library management system.
 3. The method of claim 2 wherein transmitting to the handheld device a media file containing one or more audio prompts for information further comprises synchronizing the handheld device with a local library application coupled for data communications with the library management system.
 4. The method of claim 2 wherein transmitting the media file containing the speech response to a library management system further comprises synchronizing the handheld device with a local library application coupled for data communications with the library management system.
 5. The method of claim 2 wherein recording in another media file on the handheld device a speech response from the user further comprises: pausing the playback of the media file containing the one or more audio prompts on the handheld device the media file containing the one or more audio prompts for information in response to a user's instruction to initiate recording in another media file on the handheld device the speech response.
 6. The method of claim 5 wherein the user's instruction to initiate recording in another media file on the handheld device the speech response further comprises a user's invocation of a push-to-talk button.
 7. A system for asynchronous receipt of information from a user, the system comprising a computer processor, a computer memory operatively coupled to the computer processor, the computer memory having disposed within it computer program instructions capable of: receiving in a library management system a media file containing a speech response recorded on a hand held device in response to the playing of a media file containing one or more audio prompts for information; converting the speech response stored in the media file to text; and storing the text in association with an identification of the user.
 8. The system of claim 7 wherein computer program instructions capable of receiving in a library management system a media file containing a speech response recorded on a hand held device in response to the playing of a media file containing one or more audio prompts for information further comprise computer program instructions capable of: transmitting to the handheld device a media file containing one or more audio prompts for information; playing on the handheld device the media file containing the one or more audio prompts for information; recording in another media file on the handheld device a speech response from the user; transmitting the media file containing the speech response to a library management system.
 9. The system of claim 8 wherein computer program instructions capable of transmitting to the handheld device a media file containing one or more audio prompts for information further comprise computer program instructions capable of synchronizing the handheld device with a local library application coupled for data communications with the library management system.
 10. The system of claim 8 wherein computer program instructions capable of transmitting the media file containing the speech response to a library management system further comprise computer program instructions capable of synchronizing the handheld device with a local library application coupled for data communications with the library management system.
 11. The system of claim 8 wherein computer program instructions capable of recording in another media file on the handheld device a speech response from the user further comprise computer program instructions capable of: pausing the playback of the media file containing the one or more audio prompts on the handheld device the media file containing the one or more audio prompts for information in response to a user's instruction to initiate recording in another media file on the handheld device the speech response.
 12. The system of claim 11 wherein the user's instruction to initiate recording in another media file on the handheld device the speech response further comprises a user's invocation of a push-to-talk button.
 13. A computer program product for asynchronous receipt of information from a user, the computer program product embodied on a computer-readable medium, the computer program product comprising: computer program instructions for receiving in a library management system a media file containing a speech response recorded on a hand held device in response to the playing of a media file containing one or more audio prompts for information; computer program instructions for converting the speech response stored in the media file to text; and computer program instructions for storing the text in association with an identification of the user.
 14. The computer program product of claim 13 wherein computer program instructions for receiving in a library management system a media file containing a speech response recorded on a hand held device in response to the playing of a media file containing one or more audio prompts for information further comprise: computer program instructions for transmitting to the handheld device a media file containing one or more audio prompts for information; computer program instructions for playing on the handheld device the media file containing the one or more audio prompts for information; computer program instructions for recording in another media file on the handheld device a speech response from the user; computer program instructions for transmitting the media file containing the speech response to a library management system.
 15. The computer program product of claim 14 wherein computer program instructions for transmitting to the handheld device a media file containing one or more audio prompts for information further comprise computer program instructions for synchronizing the handheld device with a local library application coupled for data communications with the library management system.
 16. The computer program product of claim 14 wherein computer program instructions for transmitting the media file containing the speech response to a library management system further comprise computer program instructions for synchronizing the handheld device with a local library application coupled for data communications with the library management system.
 17. The computer program product of claim 14 wherein computer program instructions for recording in another media file on the handheld device a speech response from the user further comprise: computer program instructions for pausing the playback of the media file containing the one or more audio prompts on the handheld device the media file containing the one or more audio prompts for information in response to a user's instruction to initiate recording in another media file on the handheld device the speech response.
 18. The computer program product of claim 17 wherein the user's instruction to initiate recording in another media file on the handheld device the speech response further comprises a user's invocation of a push-to-talk button.
 19. The computer program product of claim 13 wherein the computer readable medium comprises a recordable medium.
 20. The computer program product of claim 13 wherein the computer readable medium comprises a transmission medium. 